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Thread: The Constant Intermediate

  1. #1
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    Default The Constant Intermediate

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    I've mostly lurked around here for a long time, and I've lifted about the same amount of weight for a long time- alone in my basement. Thought maybe a public log would give me some imaginary accountabilibuddies that would motivate me to lift a little more weight.

    33 yo male. Never played sports. Did bro splits in college. Never squatted.
    Discovered The Program. Drank my milk. Did The Program (probably not). Had a pretty average SSLP and TM run.
    SSLP got my squat to around 335x3x5 in around 4 months.
    TM got it to 405x5RM.
    HLM got it to 405x3x5.
    Never ever cardio.

    That's been my squat for the last few years . I get a little stronger, have a kid/start a home renovation/whatever, get a little weaker. Repeat ad infinitum.

    I've been running a HLM split lately where I omit the light day cuz it feels pointless. So...
    Sunday: Heavy bench/light press
    Monday: Heavy squat/medium deadlift
    Thursday: Medium bench/heavy press
    Friday: Medium squat /Heavy deadlift

    Current 1RM:
    Squat 455
    Bench 375
    Deadlift 520
    Press 225

    Oh, and I'd like to finally implement some conditioning. I'm sick of being winded by everyday activities, my blood pressure tends to run high, and better intraset recovery would be nice.

  2. #2
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    May as well post last week's numbers to spam-bulk this thing into legitimacy.
    All numbers will be POUNDSxSETSxREPS because no one fucking says "I benched 345 for two reps three times." You say "I benched 345 for three sets of two."

    11/6/16

    Bench 345x3x2, 1st rep paused. I really like rep cycling with 8/5/2 as described by Andy Baker.

    Chin BW+55 x3x5

    Press 170x3x5 (light)

    Curlz x who cares

    11/7/16
    Squat 410x3x5 Heavy.
    A long time ago, I started rating my work sets with my own made up RPE scale before ever hearing about RPE, cuz I'm a frickin self-programming genius. I use Medium, Medium-Heavy, Heavy, and Heavy+. This basically equals RPE's of 7-8 for Medium, 8-9 for Medium-Heavy, 9-9.5 for Heavy, and "if a sparrow landed on the bar during the lift I would have failed it" for Heavy+.

    RDL 280x3x5. My hammies are weak sauce; I almost always complete a deadlift that breaks the floor. And when I tried alternating haltings/rack pulls, the haltings were pitifully weak. Also, alternating haltings/rack pulls didn't work for me. (probably did something wrong)

    Abwheel 3x20. You know that "tut-tut-tut" jerking thing that happens as you finish an absolute 1RM deadlift? My abs were doing that all the time- playing with kids, sexors with the wife, etc. Building these up to 3x20 fixed that. I don't care to progress the angle of attack or wear a weighted pack or anything else with these. 3x20 is fine.

  3. #3
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    11/10/16

    Bench 290x3x5 (~90% of my heavy 3x5)

    Press 190x24 in a 10 minute AMRAP, aka Density Block. This density block stuff seems pretty legit.

    Close Grip Bench with 3 minute rests 240x10,10,8. I limit my rest periods to 3 minutes for most accessory work because I hate marathon training sessions, and I hate waiting 12 minutes between sets just to convince myself I can lift those 5 additional pointless pounds on the bar. "You got this bro- all your ATP is regenerated, you're not out of breath, you're relaxed but focused, let's do this!" ...gay

    11/11/16
    Squat 360x3x5

    Deadlift 450x5. I've tried a few different things with the deadlift, and it has been even more stale than my other lifts (even regressed a little). Hopefully the RDL's help. Plan is to progress a single set of 5 until I fail, transition to a heavy triple with back offs until I fail, then a few heavy singles with back off. We'll see. The important thing is the failing.

  4. #4
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    11/13/16
    Bench 290x8,8,10. Again- 8/5/2 rep cycling. I often make my last work set an AMRAP after a deload or when changing rep ranges. Keeps it stimulating in case I misjudged the starting weight and it gives me confidence going forward.

    Chin BW+55 x27 reps in a 10 minute Density Block- yeah, I'm really liking the density blocks.

    Press 165x3x5. I made these a little lighter because my performance on last week's heavy press day was disappointing. Who knows how any of this stuff really works.

    11/14/16
    Squat 415x3x5. 1st squat PR in a loooooong time. Hoping to get a couple more weeks of progress with 3x5 before cycling these into 8/5/2.

    RDL 285x2x5. Stopped after 2 sets due to some low low back cramping. I get this all the time, especially when doing yard work, shoveling snow, after squats... Definitely muscular, but super annoying.

    Abwheel x usual

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by mgilchrest View Post
    Welcome!

    Seems like you've got a lot of things figured out. Be interesting to follow along.
    Yesssssssss! Accountabilibuddy x 1. Thanks!

  6. #6
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    11/17/16 Medium Bench

    Bench 290x3x5

    Press singles @ 205, 215, 225(fail), 215, 205x3. I hate the press. I hit 225 a few weeks ago after making some rep progress with density blocks, but it wouldn't budge today. I really hate the press.

    Close Grip Bench 240x3x10, 3 minute rests.

  7. #7
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    11/18/16 Medium Squat, Medium Deadlift

    Squat 365x3x5

    Deadlift 405x5

    Due to some work stuff, I had to lift early in the morning. I also never lift on a full stomach, but I slammed down a couple oatmeal cream pies, a proton shake, and some coffee just prior. These variables contributed to a pretty shitty medium day. The squats felt super heavy so I decided to only pull 90% of a heavy 1x5 deadlift. I find that a lighter deadlift session every few weeks actually helps my progress. Kind of a hap hazard self managed periodization.

  8. #8
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    11/20/16 Heavy Bench

    Bench 335x3x5 (PR)

    Chin BW+60 x28 reps in 10 minutes

    Press 165x3x5 (light)

    Curlz 138x3x12

    11/21/16 Heavy Squat

    Squat 435x2,2,3 (PR) When I'm doing doubles, if I don't get a PR I make myself do a back off set of 5. I was not interested back off sets today, and needed 3 reps for the PR.

    RDL 295x3x5

    Abwheel 3x20

    I wanted to keep progressing 5's on the squat, but chickened out and started rep cycling. My back and groin were fatigued from laying some flooring over the weekend and the last warm up felt pretty heavy... If I try hard enough, I can always find some excuse for not making progress.
    Last edited by broseph; 11-21-2016 at 01:12 PM.

  9. #9
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    11/23/16 Light Squat and Back Injury Day

    I decondition to volume pretty quick, so I make sure to do light day for 5's on my heavy doubles week, so...

    Squat 325x3x5. Light squats are always shockingly, disappointingly difficult, but thanks to only doing doubles for heavy day, these were ezpz. So easy, in fact, that I lost all respect for a weight that is still 1.4x my bodyweight, skipped the belt, rounded my back way too much at the bottom, and pulled something in the low back- on the 3rd rep of the 1st set. Really pulled something hard. Hurts to stand, walk, lie down- but not to squat as long as I stay super tight.

    I'm super excited to see how this will affect the next few days/weeks of training.

    Quote Originally Posted by mgilchrest View Post
    Is that why your bench is so strong?
    For some reason, I've always been decent at benching and chin ups. Not so much squats and deadlifts. I plan to start a new federation which will be bench and weighted chin ups only- but at the end you have to squat your heaviest bench. The squatting should help eliminate all the no-leg-day bros who are better benchers than me.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    I got sick and spent Thursday night vomiting up all my Thanksgiving gainz. So... no medium bench, squat, or deadlift last week. The rest of the weekend I ate a few small meals of oatmeal, yogurt, and proton shakes, and made sure to pulse BCAA's in between to minimize losses.

    Decided I'd start back with heavy 8's: In less than ideal conditions I feel like you can't fudge your way through heavy low rep sets. Confidence and technical proficiency are more important during a heavy double than a 10RM. Anything over 5 reps, however, can be mentally pushed through despite all the dehydration cramping, altered proprioception, and general malaise.

    11/27/16 Heavy Bench, Light Press

    Bench 290x8,8,10. Glad I chose 8's.

    Chins +60x5,5,8. Felt like I was going to throw up after benching so I did 3x5+ instead of a 10 minute AMRAP. Still almost threw up.

    Press 165x3x5. Didn't throw up.

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